It has been more than three months since we launched Cascade, SingleHop’s IaaS cloud platform. The reliability and durability of the platform has come a long way since then. As a result, I’ve had more time recently to focus on optimizing the performance of the virtual machines (VMs) running in the cloud. For most applications, [...]

Until recently, choosing a control panel for your dedicated server was a fairly simple process. If you were using a Linux operating system on your server, you used cPanel, and if you were using Windows, you used Plesk. In theory, you could also choose to run your server without a control panel, but there’s very [...]

One thing I see way too often in this business is inexperienced clients getting themselves into trouble with unmanaged servers.  Some clients have never run a server before but feel that they can wing it, while others have a limited budget and decide that server management is not a worthwhile investment. Either way, they always [...]

Since we announced Cascade, SingleHop’s new cloud hosting platform, some of our clients have asked us how cloud computing relates to gird computing. Cloud computing and grid computing are related concepts, in that they both involve sharing computer resources and distributing work across networks. However, there are important differences between the two, and they should not [...]

One often-overlooked advantage of cloud computing is the environmental benefit of moving resources from local computers to the web. As worldwide computer usage increases at an exponential rate, the amount of electricity consumed by computers is increasing almost as rapidly. Cloud computing can help reduce energy consumption (and related greenhouse gas emissions) by centralizing computer [...]

Cloud computing has moved from the high-level fringes to the mainstream in the last few years, and one of the main reasons has been the increasing popularity of “software as a service.” Software as a service (SaaS) is web-based software which allows the user to access an application or database from any computer with an [...]

What exactly is cloud computing? Search Cloud Computing on any major search engine and you will find a seemingly infinite number of definitions.  I decided to write on this subject because like many others I find this extremely confusing.  How can a buzzword such as this have so many different and complex definitions?  After researching [...]

In the past few days there has been alot of buzz about SingleHop offering CloudLinux as the first product in our Cascade cloud hosting lineup. So while many computer enthusiast get fascinated when one puts the word “cloud” and the world “linux” together, what does this innovating OS really offer you that is cloud like [...]

MySQL bills itself “The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database,” and with good reason.  Although an open source database solution might not be the choice for every enterprise, MySQL does provide high performance, scalability and flexibility for only a fraction of the cost of other database servers solutions.  There are three major ways to leverage [...]

Microsoft has recently launched a few initiatives such as their BizSpark and DreamSpark promotions that are aimed at providing startups and college students respectively access to software licensing and support at little or no cost. The idea being to promote Microsoft products and instill loyalty in the brand. A number of clients have joined the [...]